In Olympia, Gas Tax Alliance Hits Rough Spot

The move comes as environmentalists warn the details of the plan threaten to doom ongoing negotiations for a gas tax package.

For the last decade, transportation funding in Washington has had the support of an unlikely alliance of business, labor and environmental groups. Now the Keep Washington Rolling coalition is a key driver for a multi-billion dollar gas tax package.

But that fragile unity is in jeopardy over proposals by the senate’s Majority Coalition Caucus. They would tap the state’s toxics cleanup fund to pay for storm water mitigation, and spend much less on transit and bicycle-pedestrian programs than House Democrats.

Clifford Traisman, a leading environmental lobbyist, says those ideas head the state in the wrong direction.

“Our fear is unless there’s major headway in funding, these very popular programs that the voters and citizens of Washington want to see investments in, the negotiations will fail,” he said.

By contrast, the business side of Keep Washington Rolling praises the senate proposal because it would put more money into completing mega projects and preservation and maintenance of existing roads.